Thirteen months ago ( July 4th, 2023) I was charged a little over $200 in sales tax for an order I placed. The problem with that is my state doesn't charge sales tax and I don't ever pay it on eBay. I saw it when I checked out, but lots of online retailers have a blanket tax policy and as an Alaskan calling the company and arranging a refund afterward is pretty simple, and common for us.
The items were large and I had to partially arrange my own shipping. The reason I was charged sales tax? The items transferred between shipping companies in Fife, Washington.
I contacted eBay the next day to explain my situation and supply an updated copy of my Alaska State Tax Exemption form.
Over the last 13 months eBay has tried everything they can think of to not give me my money back. They tried to require me to provide a municipality level tax exemption form. Except that such a thing does not exist. If you Google ""Anchorage" sales tax exemption" The third result is the Anchorage Municipality website that says this explicitly, in no uncertain terms. In fact if you follow this link below, scroll to AK and search through the jurisdiction list, Anchorage is not listed. eBay's own website has the information.
https://www.ebay.com/help/buying/paying-items/paying-tax-ebay-purchases?id=4771&st=3&pos=1&query=Pay...
I provided all the information eBay asked for, including copies of the Bill of Lading and Airway bills showing the packages origin, transfers, and destination. Everything they wanted I provided many times, and still eBay ignored my claim.
By the time November rolled around I was also told that I needed to upload a spreadsheet of the order #'s, item #'s, amount of tax paid, transaction date, and the bill of lading/airway #. The problem is that the three pages on eBay's website that allow uploads do not accept spreadsheets in any format. They accept .gif, .jpg, .jpeg, .pdf, and .png only, no exceptions. Then I was told that I needed to upload a screen shot of the spreadsheet. Then I was told that screenshots of spreadsheets are not acceptable.
The entire 13 months has been like this. New CSRs constantly who need to be brought up to speed. One person requires this, another requires that, another doesn't require either of those things. Just enough to make someone frustrated enough to give up, and I was about to. Then something astonishing happened. I was on the phone with a CSR and he said he was going to put his manager on the phone. This guy made it very clear that he was never going to refund my bogus charge. There was no amount of evidence that was going to change his mind. This guy was so rude and such an ass I decided then and there that no matter what it takes I will not stop with this claim, that is the time it switched from being a simple misunderstanding to being just openly about theft. "eBay took your money and there is nothing you can do about it."
So here we are 13 months from the initial transaction. My phone is siting on my desk as I type this playing eBay’s hold music while I sit and wait to talk once again to someone who will assure me the tax department (that I cannot talk to) will have it resolved shortly... or in 90 days.
I've had many eBay accounts over the years, my newest one is 18 years old. I opened a PayPal account in 2002 and that was because of eBay. I spent over $5500 with eBay in 2023, I know I'm not paying their bills with that kind of money, but it shows I continue to be a very long and loyal customer with them. Of all those transactions in 2023 guess which ones I paid sales tax on? Only the ones on July 4th. I got an email the other day telling me that I only have tax exemption status as of Dec 2023. Well that's convenient for eBay, but what about all the transactions I've made since 2011 that I didn't pay sales tax on? I had tax exempt status then, but for some reason my exemption lapsed only on July 4th 2023. My purchases have since slowed down a bit for obvious reasons, but I still have hope eBay will do the right thing. There is $400+ worth of stuff in my cart right now... just waiting.
This may be it. At this point I don't care about the $200, it's the principle of it now. This money was stolen from me. This tax money was not remitted to my state or my local municipality, that isn't possible. They don't collect sales tax, you cant pay them if you want to. eBay has this money, and they have no right to it.
20+ years of shopping and selling on eBay is coming to a close. Not over a measly $200, but over theft... and how smugly and blatantly it was done.
